Minutes
Finance Commission · from the Town's website · 1 page · 56 KB
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Winthrop Finance Commission Minutes Date: Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 6:00pm Attendees: TOW: Lisa Howard (LH), Lori Gallivan (LG), Dylan Cook (DC), Sarah Johnson (SJ), Robbie Powers (RP} FC: Brent Farrell (BF), Karin Chavis (KC), William Gault (WG), Matt Gorzkowicz (MG), Hannah Belcher (HB}, Joe Hanlon (JH), John Macero (JM), Max Tassinari (MT), John DaRos (JD), Shannon Poulos (SP} Absent: None Meeting called to order at 6:07 pm by MG. Rollcall vote completed by KC. All present except individuals noted above. Focus of meeting will be on the discussion and review of the School's department budget. Discussion topics / commentary is highlighted below after inifial presentation by LH. LH noted areas of significant concern related to increased expenses, limited increased revenue, etc. with focus on ESL enrollment, special needs enrollment, transportation costs and labor / salary negotiations, COVID funding and others Requesting $3.5MM in funding over prior year revenue, historically increase has been ~$800- 900K LH outlined new staffing requests across the various schools $1.7MM budget deficit expected from level service ($37.6MM) and $36MM from town budget. June 15 is last day avaitable for staff reduction. which LH stated is the only route to meet budget constraints March 1st the budget was frozen, typically it occurs on April 1 Overrides typically occur every 5 to 7 years, last one in Winthrop occurred 15 years ago School, particularly Gorman Fort Banks, are nearing capacity and have limited ability to add additional students 339 MLL students, 270 require 45-90 minutes of direct daily one on one service. Services currently account for ~18% of school budget. $3.2MM needs based shorffall, $1.7MM level service shortfall versus current town proposed budget of ~$36MM Creation of school stabilization fund discussed MG motioned to adjourn; JM seconded. Approved by all present members. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm.